Description: Responsible, Local Travel in the USA

Planeta.com and GetLocalFlavor.com host a lively conversation taking stock of where the USA stands in terms of conscious travel, responsible travel, Indigenous tourism, ecotourism, agritourism, sustainable travel - and what we would like to see improve. We spotlight existing community and regional practitioners and consider whether it's time for new associations, organizations and working groups. Let us know if you would like to connect.

Our public discussions explore examples of corporate, social and environmental responsibility within the US travel sector. To us, this means bringing together innovative people who are creating a better world.

Case studies and examples of good practice are featured on this wiki.

Ron Mader of Planeta.com (celebrating an incredible 20 years on the world wide web) and tourism activist Deborah McLaren of GetLocalFlavor.com (author, consultant, founder of three responsible tourism organizations and passionate localist) co-host a series of live conversations to bring together individual leaders, organizations and communities in the USA. Examples of good practice please! We will spotlight local businesses and organizations, directly and indirectly connected to tourism. As this is an online dialogue, we will make the most of the social web, using crowdsourced documents, surveys and video conversations to broaden the discussion. Special efforts are taken to make this as transparent and as open access as possible. We are betting that these conversations generate both short- and long-term benefits.

Free participation. Informal registration.

Talking points: biking, local foods networks, local foods chefs, music, community partnerships with national parks, pop ups and other types of mad events

Would you like to be on-camera guest? Please let Ron Mader and Deborah McLaren know if you would like to join us on camera. We are seeking speakers who have a strong experience in the travel sector at the local level. We want to hear about your work and how it connects to business ethics, the environment and the triple bottom line to our long-term economy. Featured guests volunteer their time, join a conversation and share a few pictures for use in presentations. During the conversation guests speak 3-5 minutes about their work, their views on responsible travel and local travel in the US, and answer questions. We encourage participants to archive presentations on Slideshare . Hangouts are recorded and uploaded immediately to Youtube. After the hangout, videos will be available on YouTube video and the show notes will be updated with suggestions from participants.

Discussion Series Format

Social Web: Our discussion takes place simultaneously on several online platforms, including blogs, wikis, Facebook, Flickr, Google+, Google Docs, Twitter and YouTube. This wiki page is the event hub. We post several #localtravelusa questions on Twitter and curate reader responses (like a tweetchat but slower).

Hangouts: Ron loves hangouts and this means of conversing is what distinguishes our conversation with ups and downs in terms of technical glitches on Google+ and YouTube. The upside: hangouts are viewable in real-time - livestreaming - and immediately and automatically archived. Captions can be created and the videos easily embedded on other websites. Deborah is testing the waters with Zoom and that may be an option. We also encourage #LocalTravelUSA guests to use Periscope.

Michael Becker,@GeoSureGlobal
Entrepreneur and investor, co-founded GeoSure to provide an improved solution for objective, granular, worldwide travel safety information. He has founded companies including Broadsword Partners, a NYC merchant banking and a travel safety consulting firm. Prior, he worked on Wall Street with UBS, Dillon Read & Co., and Smith Barney. Has led or participated in numerous private investments, finance, management and business development experience, MBA Columbia Business School. Co-founded environmental non-profit, Blue Nomad Foundation. Mountaineer and adventurer, he has lived abroad and has extensive travel experience to remote parts of the world. GeoSure is a tech start up in the global safety information space. We’re disrupting travel safety information and innovating safety awareness, worldwide by providing granular, city safety ratings. Using smart data, predictive analytics and shared insights from the international travel community, GeoSure informs and empowers. Destination awareness can enrich, intensify and expand every dimension of the travel experience.

Rainer Jenss, @FamilyTravAssoc
As the President and Founder of the Family Travel Association, Rainer Jenss has a wealth of experience and knowledge on the subject of family with children.
Before putting his professional expertise and personal passion to the ultimate test by traveling around the world with his wife and two young children, Rainer Jenss was a Vice President and thirteen-year veteran of the National Geographic Society. As Publisher of National Geographic Kids, Jenss helped transform the publication into the most widely read consumer magazine for children throughout the world. Since returning from the yearlong trip, Jenss has dedicated himself to be an advocate for family travel as an essential part of every child’s education. By creating the Family Travel Association, Jenss aims to establish a collective and unified industry voice that will help change the way families travel – charting a path for the future generations of travelers the industry needs to cultivate. Jenss reported for National Geographic Traveler’s award-winning Intelligent Travel Blog, recognized as one of the Top 25 Family Travel Blogs by Babble.com. He later joined forces with Scholastic to direct a new family travel initiative and content development for the “Smart Family Travel” feature in Parent & Child magazine. The Family Travel Association is a coalition of the travel industry's leading suppliers/destinations, media outlets and experts on the subject of traveling with children. It’s mission is to inspire families to travel by harnessing the collective power and influence of its members to help families better understand their options and make traveling as a family more accessible.
Rainer Jenss
President & Founder
Family Travel Associationrainer@familytravel.org
P: 845-689-9033

Questions for the audience:
What concerns do you have when traveling to unfamiliar places?
Do you rely on different apps when traveling at home or abroad?
What online communities exist to share travel experiences and safety information?

Question from Michael Becker:
How many audience participants have traveled somewhere which is considered risky only to have discovered they met wonderful people and had a great experience?

What we would like to see happen:

Identify threads of common interest to be woven into a new learning network (working group, association) that integrates the various sectors of responsible travel.

Create a directory of inventory showing where the US stands in terms of activities taking place under the umbrella of responsible, local travel (ecotourism / responsible travel / sustainable tourism / Indigenous tourism / agritourism, food tourism, sustainable business practices).

Identify individual and shared goals for 2015 and beyond.

List of Hangouts 2015 to present

Preview: Cultivating Responsible Local Travel in the USAFriday, May 1, 2015
•Update on the responsible travel movement - highlight resources such as the Responsible Travel Handbook (eds. Ron Mader, Deborah McLaren and Sherry Schwarz of Transitions Abroad), Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel by Deborah McLaren
•Go over the goal of cultivating responsible travel in the US.
•Help participants prepare to effectively use Google hangouts, answer questions

Friday, May 8, 2015 1-2pm Eastern, 12-1pm Central, 11am-12pm Mountain, 10-11am Pacific, 7-8am Hawaii-Aleutian
Guests:Chris McKay, Founder of Crooked Trails & TAP - http://crookedtrails.org From Portland, OR they take people all over the world and educate them about the places they are visiting. They normally call their work sustainable travel - and are excited to be recognized for their responsible travel efforts. Chris just raised over $30k for aid to Nepal where she runs programs. She also started Travelers Against Plastic (TAP) http://www.travelersagainstplastic.org This 3 min video explains a lot: http://www.travelersagainstplastic.org

Spotlight on Food and Cultivating Networks Passionate about Responsible Travel
A shoutout to all of the farmers markets, community gardens, locally owned restaurants and diners, popup fruit stands and food trucks. Thanks to everyone producing and making such delicious food. We applaud the eco-friendly, biodiversity conservation-minded initiatives across the country. Cheers!

Guest: Andy Dufresne from the Concord Grape Discovery Center and agricultural heritage area. The heritage designation has helped grow many start-ups and small businesses around local food and slow food and travel in NY/PA area. http://www.grapediscoverycenter.comGoogle MapsPhotos

Cultivating a Local, Responsible Travel Network and Allies
Sample Questions:
*How is preservation and downtown revitalization related to responsible travel in the US?
*What is "sustainable business practices" and how does that apply to US travel?
*What are some examples of sustainable tourism practices?
*What are some first steps in establishing sustainable business guidelines in US travel and tourism?
*Are travel writers and bloggers featuring responsible tourism in the US? Are they interested?
*How do travelers and the tourism sector respond to stories about responsible travel?
*What social web channels feature responsible tourism articles and/or discussions?
*Who is reading and responding to responsible travel blogs?
*What can we do now to benefit small business and local communities and learn from each other?
*Suggestions for next steps to forward the responsible, local travel movement?

Question from Kirsten Lovett how are Native Americans reacting to development in the Grand Canyon?

Grand Canyon mega development, Save the Confluence, is a coalition of local Navajo families, many original families who have maintained homes near The Confluence since at least the early 1800s, and who have homesite leases and grazing permits that would be affected by the current proposed development and are against the Escalade development.http://savetheconfluence.com/

Grand Canyon Development and Opposition by Native Americanshttp://www.grandcanyontrust.org/stopping-grand-canyon-escalade
A proposed development, located above the sacred confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers, includes a 1.4-mile tramway that would shuttle up to 10,000 visitors a day to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It also features an elevated walkway and amphitheater below the rim, as well as a hotel, restaurant, RV center, and other resort attractions above the rim. The entire area is sacred to Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and other native people of the Grand Canyon region. For river runners and millions of other citizens, the development “would desecrate one of the country’s most beloved wilderness shrines.

Spotlight on Indigenous/Native Tourism, Creating Amazing Events and Sustainable Tourism practices: Cultivating a Responsible Travel Network
Sample Questions
•What is the status of Indigenous tourism in the USA? What organizations, examples?
•With increasing interest by tourists, how are Native people choosing to share their culture?
*Cultural preservation guidelines/tourism guidelines
*How can Indigenous guides, artisans and educators make the most of Indigenous Peoples Week in August?
*What kind of innovative events are happening across the USA that combine transportation, art, culture, food, travel?
*How to integrate ecotourism in your community - guidelines, local chamber, businesses, environment, tourism
*Suggestions for buildilng a responsible, local travel movement in the USA?

Cultivating a Responsible Travel Network
Sample Questions
•What is the status of Indigenous tourism in the USA? What organizations, examples?
•With increasing interest by tourists, how are Native people choosing to share their culture?
*Cultural preservation guidelines/tourism guidelines
*How can Indigenous guides, artisans and educators make the most of Indigenous Peoples Week in August?
*What kind of innovative events are happening across the US that combine transportation, art, culture, food, travel?
*How to integrate ecotourism in your community - guidelines, local chamber, businesses, environment, tourism
*Suggestions for buildilng a responsible, local travel movement in the US?

General Questions

Does the USA need a new Tourism Alliance or Association? Network? Working Group?
What do small businesses want?
Accessible, affordable for small businesses
What kind of tourism are we focusing on? sustainable? responsible?
Who are the players?
What are the goals?
What do people want to make 2016 better? 2020 better?
Is there a Who's Who of Sustainable Travel in the USA?
How do local businesses and communities make the most of the sharing economy?
How to make local connections? How to help local become more accessible?

Participants Goals

What are participants goals for 2015?
tk
What are the goals for the future?

Who should participate ... and how?
These conversations are aimed primarily at stakeholders in the USA. That said, we look forward to making the most of international connections.

The benefits for participating depend on the amount of time participants invest. For those willing to appear on camera, you have the opportunity to talk about responsible travel as you see it. Let us know about your work so far and what types of collaboration interest you. For viewers, there is plenty to learn, much of it off-the-radar insider knowledge that might help you in travel planning or letting the world know what's happening in your backyard.

If there is interest and people want to meet face-to-face, we welcome viewing parties and satellite events in which locals create on the ground events. Let us know your ideas!

Deborah McLaren is the founder of GetLocalFlavor.com , a for-profit social enterprise that donates 10% of profits to local businesses and start-ups. Deborah is the author Rethinking Tourism and director of two international tourism NGOs and lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Twitter: @GetLocalFlavor

Tasks for participants

Volunteer! We are seeking a few volunteers who can help edit transcripts and resource guides.

Regarding photos: Please share photos on Flickr, Facebook and other visual sites with the hashtag #localtravel usa. We are looking for your photos of city parks, national parks, shop windows with community events. Anything that shows the story of local responsible travel.Twitter - Tweet and retweet. Favorite tweets and bonus points if you embed a tweet on blog. More bonus points if you create a Twitter listFlickr - Upload photos. Take us for a walk in a city park or an expedition to a national park. We love pictures of environmental education, good signage and examples of responsible travel in action. Bonus points for shop windows with community events and message boardsPeriscope - Livestream the event.Ustream - Livestream the event. Advantage over Periscope is the ease of uploading (and archiving) the video to YouTube.Slideshare - Post presentations or documents, preferably with a Creative Commons attribution-share alike licenseGoogle Docs - Participants are invited to edit our Google Doc: Responsible Local Travel in the USA Roadmap and to answer our surveysGoogle Hangouts - Participants are invited to watch and ask questions via our live-streaming chatsYouTube - Upload your own video of responsible travel in action. Create a playlist. Watch our hangouts and timestamp comments that catch your attention. Let us explain 'timestamp' - yes, it's super geeky, but it helps the discussion. Here's how it works. If you are logged to YouTube, you can post a comment. If you include the time in the video corresponding to something said, you can add that directly on the YouTube video page.

Tasks for organizers

April 2015
- Outreach to diverse stakeholders in the US interest in Working Group
- Creation of US travel survey(s) for diverse sector/business - Google Docs, Facebook, Twitter?
- Creation of Google+ event pages for the hangouts
- Creation of Google docs with a link to use during hangouts to collect information (link, summary spreadsheets, and a summary to immediately send out to participants).
- Creation of event posters
- Creation of Slideshare preview
- Creation of Google+ Hangout Event Pages
- Create guest list for May hangouts

Chris McKay, Founder of Crooked Trails & TAP - http://crookedtrails.org From Portland, OR they take people all over the world and educate them about the places they are visiting. They normally call their work sustainable travel - and are excited to be recognized for their responsible travel efforts. Chris just raised over $30k for aid to Nepal where she runs programs. She also started Travelers Against Plastic (TAP) http://www.travelersagainstplastic.org This 3 min video explains a lot: http://www.travelersagainstplastic.org

Andy Dufresne from the Concord Grape Discovery Center and agricultural heritage area. The heritage designation has helped grow many start-ups and small businesses around local food and slow food and travel in NY/PA area. http://www.grapediscoverycenter.com

Michael Becker - CEO of GeoSureGlobal - Travelers, Meet your new best friend and safety guide. GeoSure reaches millions of travelers worldwide. By enabling greater awareness of travel environments, GeoSure’s mission of making travel safer and more enjoyable for everyone, everywhere, makes us a great partner for organizations with related goals. GeoSure invites global brands such as travel & tourism, social media as well as human rights organizations to explore opportunities to form complementary alliances. Global travel is massive and growing rapidly. Together, we can make travel an even better experience for everyone. http://geosureglobal.com/for-organizations/ Michael also founded The Blue Nomad Foundation (BNF) is a California-based non-profit organization passionate about environmental consciousness, advancing scientific research, and developing innovative economically sustainable technologies to help face the important challenges facing the planet.

Here's the Big Picture: American Tourism and Why We Should Promote Responsible and Local

Disclaimer: Have you ever heard the term Responsible Travel? If not, it's not surprising because it is a little known concept in the US. Outside the US it is embraced. For example, there is a global World Responsible Tourism Day (early November) which features the Responsible Tourism Awards. These awards are co-sponsored and covered by the BBC. South Africa's tourism policy IS responsible tourism and other countries are following suit. Colleges in Europe offer master's degrees in responsible travel. There are responsible journalists, bloggers, tour operators, magazines, holidays, destinations activities and nonprofit organizations.

The term 'responsible tourism' originated in the 1970s when organizations partnered with communities in Asia to combat prostitution tourism, child labor and other types of exploitation. The term responsible travel was coined to emphasize the movement's worked against irresponsible travel. Since then the term has come to (arguably) encompass many things such as sustainable tourism, ecotourism, ethical travel, community-based travel and more. We don't mean to offend anyone by implying their work is part of something they are unfamiliar with and disagree with but we are reaching out to leaders and sectors that are often considered part of the responsible travel umbrella outside of the US. We are using this term because of its acceptance around the world. However, we're open to your thoughts and suggestions.

There are almost 28 million small businesses in the USA and over 22 million are self-employed. America's small businesses and communities are learning how to make the most of tourism as a means of building sustainable economies. Many understand they are directly dependent on tourism. Others may need to be shown how they benefit indirectly.

In the past 20 years a curious thing has happened ... most US-based consultancies on ecotourism have focused elsewhere around the world. There have been a handful of USA-focused events, but most have been one-off with everyone re-inventing the wheel. Our proposal: better understanding of the responsible tourism umbrella, including initiatives branded as ecotourism and sustainable tourism.

We want travel and tourism to be more diverse, inclusive and holistic. Change is already taking place at the grassroots. A major shift has taken place since the recession that started in 2007. Witness the rise of the local food movement, the “buy local” movement, the sharing economy, the creative (arts) economy and other sectors. Several regions in the USA have well-designed, innovative tourism programs, activities and training. Our conversations will help connect the leaders in these areas. What can we do now to benefit small business and local communities and learn from each other?

Where does the $ go locally?

We're working to integrate diverse sectors such as local food, buy-local, sharing economy, creative economy, agritourism, ecotourism together under the grassroots travel and tourism umbrella. We strongly believe that supporting local businesses helps create a more sustainable local economy. We also believe that if these sectors were better integrated, together they would have more influence and receive more benefits from the US tourism and travel sector.

We would like our work to connect diverse stakeholders, especially community and independent businesses and organizations in the US that may be interested in participating in a tourism/travel working group or network.

Despite being comprised of so many mom and pop businesses, the travel sector is viewed mostly from the perspective of major corporations in the hospitality, ag and transportation industries.

Many state travel offices primarily focus on marketing and do little in the way of leveraging tourism as a form of community economic development and support for small business.

What are some challenges

It’s complicated. Its a multi-faceted and overlapping supply and demand with economics, politics, environmental, social and travel sector issues. Any type of movement is not as simple as it sounds. That's why we're organizing some of the best doers, thinkers, activists, businesses, nonprofits, game-changers and movements in the USA.

Reasons to Support Responsible, Local Travel in the USA

In general,

•Build a sharing/peer network in the USA.
•Leverage the strengths of all sectors together (for example the arts are a driver in the tourism economy).
•Educate the public about many local issues (for example educate the public about the risks of fast food).
•Encourage ethical buying
•Collectively inform the public about responsible tourism.
•Collaboratively message and advertise to diverse markets.
•Have Fun! Celebrate our passions and values with like-minded people.
•Be part of the change.
•Highlight the best of America in all of our work.
•Build important connections and collaborations.
*Support independent businesses like farmers, chefs, musicians, artisans, brewers, shopkeeps and inn keepers.
•Be part of an innovative community.
*Connect with diverse people and sectors that may be outside of your normal scope.
*Share your creativity and genius!
*Make friends with amazing people across the country.
*Have new experiences you never dreamed of!

1.Responsible travel and the environment
•Encourage responsible/sustainable tourism practices.
•Contribute to more climate-friendly tourism, less mass tourism transportation and lessening the travel sector's
carbon footprint
•Advocate for better policies and practices for small businesses/organizations and the environment.
• Encourage responsible/sustainable practices and policies within mass tourism.

2. Responsible travel and local economies
•Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized
world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve
their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.
•Encourage support directly to small businesses.
• Help diminish tourism "leakages," so that tourist dollars spent in a community stay in the community, rather than
"leaking" back to the corporate shareholders of chains not based in the area.
• Strengthen local economies so they can have a direct positive impact on the lives of all citizens and visitors
within the community.
•Provide more information about local products and services (how food is grown for example).
•Provide better jobs:
- local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take
more time to get to know customers.
-corporate travel chains often only provide low-paying jobs with few benefits.
•Independent businesses generate more direct local economic benefits than absentee-owned formula businesses.•Support community groups: non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller
business owners than they do from large businesses.

3. Responsible Travel and Social Issues
•Build community vibrancy and retain local traditions while establishing a local identity through a unique
sense of community.
•Encourage people to learn more about their local area/region and the importance of supporting local
businesses and organizations.
•Support public/community objectives.
•Promote community interaction by fostering relationships between local businesses & organizations and visitors.
•Promote community engagement.
•Celebrate and preserve local culinary traditions and foods, cultural heritage, history - communities that preserve
their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage.

New York: Grape Discovery Center, The Grape Discovery Center is the official Visitor’s Center for the Lake Erie Concord Grape Belt, designated a New York State Heritage Area in 2006. Developed by the Concord Grape Belt Heritage Association, it seeks to be an experiential destination that supports and promotes the grape industry through sharing stories and engaging, educating and informing the public about all things grape. Local Food, Local Tourism, Heritage, Small Business Developmenthttps://www.facebook.com/GrapeDiscoveryCenter

Future Guests

Michael Becker - CEO of GeoSureGlobal - Travelers, Meet your new best friend and safety guide. GeoSure reaches millions of travelers worldwide. By enabling greater awareness of travel environments, GeoSure’s mission of making travel safer and more enjoyable for everyone, everywhere, makes us a great partner for organizations with related goals. GeoSure invites global brands such as travel & tourism, social media as well as human rights organizations to explore opportunities to form complementary alliances. Global travel is massive and growing rapidly. Together, we can make travel an even better experience for everyone. http://geosureglobal.com/for-organizations/ Michael also founded The Blue Nomad Foundation (BNF) is a California-based non-profit organization passionate about environmental consciousness, advancing scientific research, and developing innovative economically sustainable technologies to help face the important challenges facing the planet.

Lizzie Keenan, Director, Marketing and Communications at Sustainable Travel International

Wiki Edits

During the process of holding Responsible Local Travel in the USA, editors updated the following US pages on our wiki

Communication Tip

Ron Mader reminds colleagues that he checks email infrequently, maybe once a week. If you want to get in touch with Ron, please tweet him @ronmader or interact via his blog. editors are encouraged to add interesting links to relevant pages here on the wiki.